Nintendo employs a high performance and high-availability platform for global business and gamer support systems with Oracle Exalogic and Oracle Exadata. Ingvar Petursson, Senior VP of IT at Nintendo of America, explains how the company profits from this fast time-to-market implementation. He identifies "transaction resilience" and manageability of performances as aspects of Oracle solutions that are paying off handsomely for Nintendo.

Available in 128GB, 64GB and 32GB capacities, the new flash drives deliver affordable, file transfer speeds previously only available in far more expensive USB 3.0 to SATA bridge based drives.

They are housed in a sleek, sturdy, brushed metal housing with a capless design. The flash drives deliver read speeds of up to 260 MB/s and write speeds of up to 235 MB/s, 1.7 times faster than other native USB 3.0 flash drives. The drives connect with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, and work with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux with no additional software..."

"One aspect of HIPAA requirements that is sometimes overlooked is the process of decommissioning aging computer hardware. Old hard drives contain sensitive data, so you probably don't want to simply throw them away or ship them off to a recycling center. It is important to have a plan for dealing with old hard drives while staying compliant and saving money..."

"Most organizations have a pretty good idea of which sensitive data is most critical to them. Depending on the kind of business entity, the data types can vary considerably. For financial organizations, the most critical data is most often consumer personally identifiable information (PII), including account and credit card numbers. In healthcare organizations, the major concern is still PII, but with a HIPAA twist to include protected health information. For other companies, the most critical data may be other nonpublic data, such as customer lists or intellectual property..."

"Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technologies are garnering more attention with the dominance of tablets and smartphones in the consumer and business sectors. Otherwise known as the the Internet of Things, M2M enables mobile devices to talk to appliances and other devices in the home and the workplace.

The ability to manage an M2M project successfully requires many traditional project management skills as well as more of a holistic approach than traditional development projects. Here are five tips for managing your first M2M development and deployment project. This approach accounts for the business, budget, overall project plan, and development framework..."

"The USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced development of a SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) enhancement that will add a much higher data rate, delivering up to twice the data through-put performance of existing SuperSpeed USB over enhanced, fully backward compatible USB connectors and cables.

This supplement to the USB 3.0 specification is anticipated to be completed by the middle of this year..."

"This is the time of year when an abundance of predictions lists come out. Some stand out from the crowd, including the following 10 predictions from the IEEE Computer Society, a respected community for technology leaders. The predictions reveal fresh, forward-thinking perspectives, many of which speak directly to future career positioning that you may want to consider..."

"Zinnov recently revealed the list of Top 10 IT buzzwords for the India Domestic IT Market, which will make the most amount of echo with principal vendors, partners and customers in 2013.

While the IT exports market is getting a mixed feedback, Indian domestic IT market holds significant potential as we enter 2013, said the research firm. With over 5,000 large enterprises and over 10 million SMBs ready to consume IT, the USD 30 billion plus domestic IT market is expected to grow between 15-18 percent in 2013..."

"With the New Year comes a fresh set of technology imperatives, challenges and opportunities for organizations to consider. The increased innovation in the technology sector means that companies are finally in a position to be smart about the IT decisions they make and truly leverage next-generation tools and strategies to mitigate risk and shape strategies for the future. Below are my predictions around the technology trends that will shape and impact their decision-making in 2013..."

Darren Moffatt posts an outline of the FIPS 140-2 evaluation process for Solaris 11.1. He notes that Solaris 11.1 has just recently been granted CAVP certificates by NIST, which is the first formal step in getting a FIPS 140-2 certification. He adds that it will be some months yet before the results of the CMVP (FIPS 140-2) evaluation will be available, however, because of the multiple certificates for each algorithm to cover the cases of SPARC and x86 both with and without hardware acceleration from the CPU. His post includes links to references pertaining to the several aspects of the evaluation process.

It takes 12 steps in the procedure Rick Ramsey outlines to upgrade an Oracle Solaris 11 Repository with 11.1 Packages. His instructions assume users already have a local Oracle Solaris 11 11/11 IPS package repository that they want to update by adding Oracle Solaris 11.1 packages. He provides two options: using the pkgrecv command or downloading a repository image file and tailors the procedure to accommodate both. Reader Tim Foster registers a preference for using pkgrecv because, he writes, it requires much less work than downloading the repository and performing the necessary manual steps.

In identifying the virtues of Global Transaction Identifiers (GTIDs), Mat Keep notes that GTIDs make it simple to track and compare replication across a master-slave topology, which enables much simpler recovery from failures of the master and introduces great flexibility in the provisioning and on-going management of multi-tier or ring (circular) replication topologies. He provides a link to a new on-demand MySQL 5.6 GTID webinar that features a deep dive into the design and implementation of GTIDs, showing how they enable users to simplify MySQL scaling and HA. Keep also includes an abstract in his post of the Q&A portion of the webinar.

While SQL Plan Management (SPM) is growing increasingly popular with users migrating to Oracle Database 11g, some difficulties have arisen over the issue of using SPM which does not enable the use as well of the created SQL plan baseline. Maria Colgan shows how SQL Plan Management can be made to match SQL statements to SQL plan baselines. Colgan demonstrates that it is possible to force matches of SQL statements to SQL plan baselines. In fact, Colgan writes, it is possible to issue identical SQL statements from two different schemas that resolve to the same SQL plan baseline.

In two ArchBeat podcasts featuring Rick Greenwald, director of product management for database cloud initiatives at Oracle; Mike Lehmann, senior director of product management for Oracle fusion middleware, Java application and cloud; and Dom Lindars, cloud architect for Oracle, discuss the technologies underlying the Oracle Cloud in Part l: Under the Hood. In Part 2, 30 Days in the Cloud, the panelists share information on the Oracle Database and Oracle Java Cloud Services , including details on how users can get a 30-day free trial. Bob Rhubart brings these to users' attention, promising also in future ArchBeat podcasts to shed light on Oracle ACEs.

In the first of a promised series of articles, Wim Coekaerts posts about using the Oracle VM API to configure an Oracle Linux VM running on top of Oracle VM 3. The several initial steps outlined in Coekaerts' post include:

"Numerous organizations are either using cloud computing services or planning to deploy them. In fact, the cloud has moved well past the experimental stage to become a keystone of many IT strategies today.

"Both public and private clouds are becoming mainstream in the enterprise and will continue to do so because of the flexibility, ease of maintenance and cost controls," says Janel Garvin, CEO at research firm Evans Data Corp. in Santa Cruz, Calif..."

"In 2013, the rush to the cloud will be different. More vendors and solution providers will compete to offer customers services with more reliability, lower prices, better management and easier use. This year, the cloud will become widespread and used in revolutionary ways we didn't imagine a short time ago..."

"Vendors introduced hundreds of cloud-related products and services in 2012 that were aimed at helping organizations move to the cloud or designed to help them expand their cloud capabilities. Heres a sampling of some of the more interesting product announcements:"

"Few areas within the IT industry have seen the kind of growth that cloud computing has. As a result, many IT professionals are now seeking cloud specific certifications. Here is an overview of what is currently available to help you figure out which certification may be best for you:"

"The Obama administrations cloud-first strategy, data center consolidation directive, and security certification process for cloud products and services all point agencies toward greater cloud adoption. Indeed, the policies and programs that seek to spark cloud acceptance are now largely in place. Whats lacking, however, is a definitive statement on how to coordinate cloud resources. Over time, agencies will likely end up juggling their own private clouds, public clouds provided by companies such as Amazon and multiple software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings..."

"Like earlier transformative phases in IT  the adoption of personal computing in the 1980s, client/server in the 1990s and the uptake of SaaS earlier this century  cloud has reached a similar tipping point that will create unprecedented opportunities for both new entrants and established vendors.

For many industry soothsayers, 2012 was going to be the year cloud went mainstream. Are we there yet? With IDC reporting that global spending on public IT cloud services will be more than USD 40 billion this year with a compound annual growth rate of more than 25%, it looks like 2013 will be the year that cloud pays off for many vendors and customers..."

"Storing information in the public cloud from a growing market of vendors is a viable alternative to on-premise, traditional storage options for some use cases, research firm Gartner says.

But cloud-based storage providers vary widely in their ability to meet the requirements of enterprise IT, which is why customers should rigorously plan and vet vendors before first engaging in a pilot and then deciding if mission-critical data should be moved into the cloud-based storage service..."

The Netflix outage hit customers in the US, Canada and Latin America on 24 December, particularly those using games consoles and mobiles to watch films, while desktop Mac and PC users suffered time-outs and delays. A mistake at Netflix's hoster - Amazon Web Services - caused the downtime and Amazon's developer team worked through the night into Christmas morning to get the problems fixed by 8am 25 December..."

"On Christmas Eve as Netflix customers cuddled up to watch their favorite holiday movies and TV shows with friends and family, many experienced a problem. Netflix was down.

More precisely, Amazon Web Service's public cloud, which Netflix relies on to stream content to customers, experienced an outage in its U.S.-East region, the same spot that has been plagued by some of the company's other biggest blunders of its public cloud services..."

"As security and risk professionals continue to find ways to wrap their arms around the problem of managing risk across both on-premises and cloud environments, data classification is gaining steam as a fundamental process. According to security and business process experts, data classification makes it easier to decide to evaluate the risk of specific cloud services based on the data to be processed, and also makes it easier to keep tabs on sensitive data throughout its life cycle -- no matter where it resides..."

"It seems there are two steps when it comes to any technology trend. First, people criticise and ridicule. Then, companies start to adopt it, with the erstwhile critics conveniently forgetting all the concerns they might have previously had. The same can be applied to cloud computing.
Initially, experts felt the cloud could not offer the same degree of security and convenient access to information that on-site solutions provided. These sentiments started to change as broadband access improved, the cost benefits to using cloud services started making sense, and security and uptime reached a level that satisfied risk management policies..."

"With the rise of cloud computing comes a rise in tools and models that estimate the cost benefit of the technology. Most are created and promoted by cloud providers that sell their services, and a few come from analysts and consulting organizations. Whatever their source, their ROI calculations are based on the same assumption: Cloud computing avoids hardware and software investments, and because you pay only for the resources you use, the cost of those resources should align directly with the amount you require..."

"The measure of a CIO is in how everyone else in the company views the IT organization. Many CIOs strive to create an IT group that is the department people call first when a new business idea strikes. Even better: They strive to be there at the idea's birth. Building such a strategic IT group takes time and tactical smarts--and it's a journey of increasing importance, according to our 12th annual State of the CIO survey..."

"The shift in power to the customer represents the dawning of a new era in IT organizations. Call it the Quantum Age of IT. It involves a shift in focus away from a monolithic IT organization that owns its technology to one that is purpose-built to deliver value as either a strategic sourcer or a strategic innovator. It will result in both the explosive application of technologies that drive innovation and a highly optimized approach to the delivery of IT services. And it will require an unrelenting focus on the customer and the constant retuning of the IT organization to deliver meaningful value..."

"More value-added resellers, systems integrators and other channel firms are offering managed services for CIOs and other customers, according to recent survey research from CompTIA. Traditionally, concerns about revenue, staffing and the impact of cloud computing have led to a "go slow" approach here. While these barriers still exist, fewer of these firms consider them deal killers anymore..."

"Catherine Bessant's journey to the CIO role at Bank of America wasn't your standard ascent through the ranks of IT. Bessant, now Global Technology and Operations Executive, leads a team of more than 100,000 employees and contractors who handle all technology and operations for the giant financial institution. But prior to tackling IT, Bessant was president of Global Corporate Banking, Global Treasury Services and the Global Product Solutions groups. She's also served as chief marketing officer for the bank.

In this installment of the IDG Enterprise CIO Interview Series, Bessant spoke with IDG Enterprise's Chief Content Officer John Gallant about the advantages -- and challenges -- of being a nontechnologist leading IT..."

"The 2013 State of the CIO Survey shows that CIOs are optimistic about prospects for both their businesses and industries in the year ahead, but many IT leaders express concerns about global recession and growing threats to enterprise security..."

"Today, CIOs and other IT decision-makers are increasingly recognizing the value of open source software. In the era of continuous improvement, it's the essence of communal collaboration as open source allows IT folks to examine a products source code, improve or alter it, and distribute it as they desire. Indeed, enthusiasm for open source software is driving a "golden era" in application development, according to Forrester Research Inc., as the number of open source projects has increased to 725,000--up from 100,000 in 2006. So, given all the interest, CIOs should consider the advantages and disadvantages often linked to products generated from this now-seemingly ubiquitous school of innovation. With this in mind, the following list of pros and cons..."

"As I reviewed OpenBI's business development activities over the last two years, I noticed that prospects for OpenBI's analytics and big data consulting services roughly apportion to 50 percent companies with new initiatives, 40 percent companies with next-phase projects, and the final 10 percent firms with existing programs which aren't tracking successfully..."

"With the help of GFI.coms Talk Tech To Me blog, weve compiled a list of 10 free software downloads designed to help router and IP administrators handle their tasks with as little cost as possible..."

"Software-defined networking (SDN) was the major network industry trend of 2012, and in 2013, it's expected to be even more prevalent as SDN technologies move into proof-of-concept deployments.

In recent months, a number of SDN startups have made major product launches, entered new markets and/or emerged from stealth mode, all part of a market that researcher IDC says will reach $2 billion by 2016:"

"Enterprise-class 802.11ac products won't appear in great numbers until around the middle of the year. But the handwriting is regardless on the wall - .11ac will indeed replace, over the next five years or so, 802.11n. That being said, I'm still encouraging clients to purchase 802.11n products if ROI, however measured, can be demonstrated over the next two years - and that's usually not a difficult task..."

"At the Mississippi Department of Corrections, it's vital to protect the network from unauthorized access, rogue applications, malware and loss of confidential data...

As a technology professional, I am always interested in new developments in the workplace, such as the now ubiquitous bring your own device trend, which opens new and productive ways for employees to work remotely or on the go. Employees today know and like to use their own devices, which can help both productivity and training. In addition, independent surveys indicate thatthanks to BYODsome employees may work an additional 20 hours per month for their companies. Unpaid..."

"Keeping computing systems and data centers coolin a cost-effective and energy-efficient mannerhas been a constant challenge facing IT departments. Regardless of whether it is the middle of summer or the first day of winter, many businesses must turn on air-conditioning systems in their server rooms or data centers to keep their computers functioning properly, and the cost of air conditioning is a significant portion of an IT department's energy bill..."

"Patrick Lambert describes the role of the Security Operations Center (SOC) in an organization, and why its implementation is now in reach of smaller companies.

Hacking started out as something we heard about in geek circles, but it didnt impact our daily lives that much. Then, it featured in Hollywood movie plots, and today its a word everyone is familiar with, especially those who work in IT. While many would like the white hat style of hacking to be the default type, the reality is that its a constant battle raging between the good and the bad guys  the security researchers trying to prevent malware and viruses from infecting systems throughout the web, and the criminal organizations trying to make money by causing all of this chaos..."

"I don't like to get all "me too" on a topic, but I really enjoyed the back and forth on Richard Bejtlich's blog as Bejtlich and commenters discussed what "monitoring" means. It's pretty clear that everyone's using the word, but they're differing on the purpose of the monitoring itself.
One of the use cases I see often is "monitoring for risk."

Now, risk is a slippery word in and of itself, as the squabbling on risk analysis mailing lists can demonstrate. It should always be accompanied by the word "of" to describe what you mean by it. Is it the risk of not being compliant? Is it the risk of not having your systems configured the way you want them? Or is it the risk of a breach?"

"More than a year after Scott Shealy was fed up enough with the lack of support for security within his department to quit, that same agency came forward to announce a breach of millions of state taxpayers. And last Thursday, Shealy testified in front of the South Carolina House committee about the departmental problems that led him to quit and likely contributed to the state's IRS becoming a target for hackers.

According to Shealy, he resigned from his job because he wasn't getting support to adequately perform his duties. He told legislators that his suggestions went unheard to install security measures, citing the department's failure to replace him for a full year as a sign of its lack of commitment to security..."

"Among your typical New Year's resolutions--lose weight, stop smoking, be happier--you should consider making some pledges to better secure your digital life. You might even be healthier if you can prevent the stress of a digital disaster, like malware wiping out your PC, having your online accounts hacked, or becoming a victim of identify theft because of a phishing scam or data theft. With that in mind, here are some security resolutions you should consider for the new year..."

At first glance, Eric Cowperthwaite, Chief Security Officer at Providence Health and Services in Renton, Washington, doesn't care how excellent a job candidate's credentials and experience look on paper. He wants to see how much of an impression they make on his team.

"It doesn't matter how much I like you or how impressed I am by your skills. Show up and rub the team the wrong way, that's the end of the line."

How do you collaborate?

Why do you want this job?

What questions do you have for me?

How will you earn and keep your seat at the table with other senior executives?

"A Turkish certificate authority mistakenly issued two intermediate CA certificates to untrusted users, giving them the power to create a certificate for any domain.

For the third time in two years, an incident at one of the hundreds of certificate authorities that underpin the security of the Internet allowed a groupor in this case, a machinethe ability to pose as a legitimate online service provider..."

"It is a dog-eat-dog world today, making it not only tough to get a job, but also to keep it. But, if you have got your sights set on climbing higher, keeping your head down is not an option. Instead, you need to raise your game. Here are five steps to help you stay ahead of the pack..."

"When the Homeland Security folks get into the mix and urge all computer users to disable Java in their browsers, you know its serious. Indeed, the exploit announced yesterday seems to affect all operating systems, including Linux, and its already being exploited. According to Trend Micro the flaw is already being used by blackhat toolkits mainly to distribute ransomware. In a blog posted yesterday, the company advises all users to disable or uninstall Java..."

"It's no secret that single sign-on (SSO) has been hunted down for years like a mythical identity management treasure--get it right and all those identity and access management (IAM) woes are cured, right? Well, not exactly, say experts.

"Just like the Holy Grail and the Golden Fleece, most people who go on a quest for SSO start their journeys with some mistaken ideas about what they are after," says Jonathan Sander, director of IAM business development for Quest Software, now a part of Dell..."

"In today's unpredictable business environment, one thing you can count on is that you won't be enjoying a 40-hour, 9-to-5 workweek anytime soon. The dynamics of the workplace have shifted radically over the last couple of decades. Mobility has ushered in an era of connectedness that wasn't imaginable during our parent's generation. And global competition has never been greater.

But there's another side of the story: Americans are obsessed with work and can't shut off their devices. Recent studies indicate that Americans work 30 percent more than Europeans, despite nearly equal productivity levels..."

"We know that most of you are "IT guys." And judging from the attendee representation at tech conferences we've gone to over the years, we don't think the gender balance within the industry is going to balance out anytime soon. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't learn valuable lessons from womenlessons that will steer you in the right career direction. The book Who Says It's a Man's World: The Girl's Guide to Corporate Domination (Amacom) reveals insights about maintaining core virtues while climbing the corporate ladder..."

"One question I get more than any other is how do I select from XYZ technologies what to learn? Not everyone knows what they want to do within the development industry, and given the costs (time and money) associated with learning new skills, it is important to make the right choice.

I have written numerous forum responses and emails with the same basic set of instructions, so it is clear to me that people are interested in this topic. I also wrote a TechRepublic post on the topic in 2009 in which I outlined five questions you should ask yourself before choosing which programming language to learn. Here are four more tips I give anyone who asks me this question..."

"90% of network and system admins say there are more responsibilities and demands on their time, but the overarching results find IT workers to be model employees.

Network administrators, or netadmins, and system administrators (sysadmins) feel high levels of job enjoyment and loyalty toward and confidence in their companies, according to a survey of 401 U.S.-based sysadmins and 400 netadmins released by IT management software specialist SolarWinds..."

"Do your New Year's plans include increasing the number of tech employees in your department? Join the club. A growing percentage of hiring managers and HR executives say they'll add more staff members in 2013, according to a recent survey from CareerBuilder. Many are also looking to boost salaries for both existing and incoming talent, and others are willing to train inexperienced workers for various positions..."

"If your New Year's resolutions include work promises and goals, you're not alone: According to LinkedIn Connection Director Nicole Williams, professional resolutions are on the rise.

"The new year always tends to come along with a sense of optimism, and it's one of the best times to invest time and energy into your profile because there are more employers hiring and headhunters looking for candidates," says Williams.

Here's a look at four ways you can improve your profile, rekindle relationships with your connections and keep your 2013 resolutions..."

"Let's face it: It's painful to work with new hires who aren't working out. They miss deadlines. They produce sloppy work. They often seem to pack 10 pounds of negative attitude in a five-pound bag. And guess what? Management is equally frustrated with recruits who don't work out. A failed hire represents a direct drain on the bottom line, with the actual cost extending well into the mid-five figures, according to a recent survey from CareerBuilder..."

"While IT folks are, of course, some of the smartest people on the planet, even we need to keep our skills sharp. There may even be skills we dont currently have that might make us more useful or perhaps advance our career. Ive assembled five web apps (with a bonus sixth selection!) that you can use to hone your IT skills as well as make yourself smarter in other business-related areas..."

"To succeed as a CIO, you must command the ear of the C-suite--as well as rally your IT department--with a sense of assertive leadership. But in this era of rapidly shifting business conditions, many senior executives may find their sense of self-confidence floundering. Part of this is due to stress: Nearly half of Americans say their stress has increased in the last year, research shows, and 77% report that they're suffering negative physical symptoms as a result..."

"The way that people work is changing at a much faster pace than organizations have anticipated, with significant and immediate consequences for companies' IT strategies and budgets for 2013.

This is according to comprehensive new research from business advisory firm CEB (formerly known as Corporate Executive Board), which has extrapolated the IT implications of the changes for large businesses..."

"Employers in Illinois and California cannot ask for usernames and passwords to the personal social media accounts of employees and job seekers under laws that took effect on Jan. 1.

Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn in August signed legislation amending the State's 'Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act.' California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation adding the prohibitions to the State's Labor Code in September..."

"The US Library of Congress is now storing 500 million tweets per day as part of its efforts to build a Twitter archive, and has added a total of about 170 billion tweets to its collection.

Twitter signed an agreement in April 2010 to provide the library with an archive of every public tweet since the company went live in 2006, and the Library of Congress recently provided an update on its progress. The initial stage of the project, which includes a complete copy of all tweets covering that four-year span, will be finished by the end of the month..."

"When can you engage with customers on social media? Only when they want you to.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make on social media is to treat it as a customer acquisition channel when that's not what it's best at. So says Matt Goddard, CEO of R2 Integrated, a digital agency whose clients include Microsoft, Hershey, Aramark and Black & Decker. "We've been preaching pretty much the same thing for four or five years, that social is not a channel -- it's more of a behavior."

Earth Rangers, which has been building out its Web-based tools whose content is growing at the rate of more than 20 Terabytes (TB) a year, has implemented Oracles Pillar Axiom 600 storage system, Evelyn Neumayr reports, increasing storage capacity utilization cost effectively and improving storage capacity utilization and power usage effectiveness to 1.5 while also increasing energy efficiency in the data center by 90%, without sacrificing performance or scalability. Opting for virtualization has enabled Earth Rangers to avoid consumption of the equivalent of 100,000 kilowatt hours of energy and 26 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, a 17.8% energy savings in 2011.

Oracle has announced 2u disk trays for ZFSSA, Steve Tunstall reports, adding that users can now choose among a 4u capacity tray for 3TB drives (soon to be 4TB drives), and a 2u high-performance tray with either 300GB or 900GB 10K speed drives. The new 900GB 10K speed drives have the same IOPS as the current 600GB 15K speed drives and, since the form factor went from 3.5" to 2.5", users can have 24 drives in a 2u tray. The new trays require OS 2011.1.5, now available for download from MOS. Users can soon mix the new with the older DS2 trays, Tunstall promises.

"Experienced CIOs see the opportunities presented by "Big Data" in context. They know that maximizing big data to deliver real business results will require a focused strategy that leverages and protects their existing data assets, develops new capabilities that are production-ready and reusable, and is able to manage the deluge of new data that will be created in the process..."

"Since the New York Times February 2012 article about the intersection of data and human behavior, How Companies Learn Your Secrets, I have had many conversations about what Predictive Analytics means for marketers.

One key factor is the change in how we consume and share information about ourselves. The accuracy of our message to our audience is infinitely more important  quality trumps quantity.
I have always been interested in pop culture and trends. I almost chose an anthropology major in college. In hindsight, that might not have been such a bad idea. I joined the ranks of IT marketers in the mid-90s..."

"Big data is a big deal for companies in 2013. The prospect of outdistancing your competition by leveraging your company's data with huge data sources such as NASA, the government, video and demographic services is compelling. But there's evidence that technology is advancing faster than companies and governments can manage it. Along with big data technology developers, your company should be thinking about adding a 'big data ethicist'..."

"Large enterprises, especially financial services firms, are adopting Big Data at a more rapid pace than expected, according to a recently released study by Big Data consulting firm NewVantage Partners. But how are organizations using Big Data to make better business decisions? Success, it turns out, is as much an art form as it is a technology solution..."

"IDC Corp. projects that the worldwide big data technology and services market will grow at a 31.7% CAGR - about seven times the rate of the overall information and communication technology market - with revenues reaching $23.8 billion in 2016.

The big data market is emerging at a rapid pace and incorporating technology and services from a wide range of existing and new market segments..."

"It's amazing how much the topic of Big Data has monopolized the discussion for IT in 2012, and we aren't likely to see it end anytime soon. At the C-level, the discussion transitions from managing Big Data to making Big Data actionable. How do we use Big Data to improve operations and fulfillment, marketing, sales and support, etc.? Even more importantly, how do we make Big Data actionable to improve customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty?...'

"Big data is everywhere and almost everyones contributing to it.
It predicts what youll purchase next, its turning the healthcare industry upside down, and it predicted the outcome of the 2012 election before the votes were in.
But as the old adage goes, if its too good to be true, it usually is..."

"The number of mobile application development tools is rapidly growing, including a new generation that enables developers to create mobile apps through their browsers, often with very fast results. Many of these no-code or low-code alternatives provide seasoned developers quick means for rapid prototyping while lowering the barrier of entry for novice developers seeking to get in the mobile app game.

We asked several developers to weigh in on their hands-on experience developing apps for a variety of mobile platforms using these tools, plus a few other heavier-duty mobile dev tools they are currently using. Add these to the growing list of mobile tools already on your radar..."

"Machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies  sometimes known as the Internet of Things  are an ideal component for next-generation smartphones. M2M enables communication between devices across a Wi-Fi or cellular network without the need for a PC. However, M2M and smartphones are at least a generation away from reaching their full potential as an interface to business and consumer M2M applications..."

"Forrester has warned companies that if they don't properly invest in a mobile application strategy, other companies with convenient and useful applications will attract customers to their services.

In a report entitled 'The business impact of mobile engagement', Forrester says businesses that can "create a mobile app that offers a fundamentally different capability or service by addressing people's needs in their physical context [can] increase loyalty or pull customers away from their incumbent banks, retailers and media companies".

New technologies made available by the latest smartphone applications are the cause of this stress on maintaining a company's core customer base..."

"Whether youre one of the millions of Americans that already owns a mobile handheld device (like a Smartphone, tablet or iPod Touch), or youre one of the lucky ones  Santa slipped one under your tree this year, theres something you likely havent put much thought towards: mobile security.

According to a report released by Forrester Research, its estimated that 46% of all bank account holders will utilize mobile banking services by 2017. Even if you arent accessing your bank or credit account from your handheld device, you likely have email; social networking and a multitude of apps that give a would-be thief plenty of valuable information should they get a hold of your phone or tablet. Take a few easy steps to protect that information from loss or theft..."

"Nearly 60 percent of consumers feel that videoconferencing and using social collaboration tools on their personal devices increases their productivity, according to a new survey by management consulting firm Accenture.

Growth of personal devices in the workplace has brought increased demand for products such as smartphones and tablets. The rise of multifunction technology has also slowed consumer demand for single usage devices..."

"The IT landscape is dominated by the rise of paradigms such as cloud computing, mobile networking, and social networking, three concepts that have totally revolutionized the daily users experience on the web.
Users, in a more or less conscious way, have now become slaves of the concepts of mobility and connectivity, technological change has been rapid and has involved masses of people as never before. There are a billion people, acting as nodes in a global network and exchanging an unimaginable quantity of data, while ignoring the basic concepts of information security.

Which means are used for the data transfer?

Are the communications channels secure?

Where is the users information hosted?

What is the impact on users private and what is the impact of technological innovation for business?

All of these questions need careful reflection to avoid serious consequences for our data, for our digital identities, for our business..."

"What is Happening? Over the next year, we are expecting that IT will primarily focus its efforts on tactically-focused initiatives that will support enterprises ability to execute in the short term.

Given these limitations, many important long-term IT initiatives will, at best, remain works in progress through 2013, as more immediate concerns force CIOs to prioritize IT responsiveness and agility over the completion of strategically-focused initiatives.

This Research Alert highlights three important aspects of enterprise IT where we do not expect significant progress by most enterprises  despite both the growing importance and the surrounding hype associated with each..."

"Assessing the benefits and risks of consumer technology in the enterprise has never been easy, and the events of 2012 didn't help that cause. Fortunately, our expert contributors spent the year staying on top of new developments and sharing their consumerization and BYOD tips with readers.

"Just because MDM is popular is no guarantee of its sanity. And just because IRM is not yet mainstream is no indication of its utility, says Prabhakar Deshpande of Seclore Technology...

MDM  Mobile Device Management  seems fairly innocuous and harmless. But one is reminded of Elvis Presleys number - You look like an angel; walk like an angel; talk like an angel; but I got wise; You're the devil in disguise.

BYOD refers to the increased trend of employees insisting and enterprises permitting employees to bring their own devices  smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc to office. Employees bringing their own device carry an information security risk. However, considering the changing times, enterprises are being compelled to accept and indeed permit employees bringing their own device...:

"Losing a single laptop containing sensitive personal information about 441 patients will cost a non-profit Idaho hospice center $50,000, marking the first such penalty involving fewer than 500 data-breach victims.

The data was unencrypted.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced last week that it has reached an agreement with the Hospice of North Idaho that will see the hospice pay $50,000 for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)..."

"A myriad of compliance mandates and data governance rules is forcing some firms to implement encryption before the data is stored in a remote server, and at least one firm specializing in cloud encryption is finding growth in this emerging space.

Pravin Kothari, founder and CEO of San Jose, Calif.-based CipherCloud said his firm is building a strategy and managing the growth fueled by the need for greater transparency and the desire to maintain control of the data despite it being stored remotely. CipherCloud sells security gateways or a Web proxy that provides encryption and tokenization to data before it is sent to cloud-based applications such as Amazon AWS, Salesforce.com, Google Gmail and Microsoft Office 365..."

"You don't want a rootkit infection. Any malware compromise is bad, but rootkits--by their very nature--are especially nasty. The irony is that you might have a rootkit infection right now and not know it. That's sort of the point of a rootkit..."

"Whether it's a handheld device, a desktop, laptop, server or cloud application, users need to be aware of how the data on the device or service is secured. Each IT tool requires a specific type of security; servers need custom protection of critical data without impacting performance. Blanket protection is suitable for laptops, and performance impact is a non-issue. Both servers and laptops must be protected against malicious activity. However, only servers require additional system configuration and change visibility..."